page_title: Chetco River
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Chetco River / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Satellite picture of the Biscuit Fire (2002) — in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, in California and Oregon. Over 500,000 acres (200,000 ha) of the eastern portion of the Chetco River watershed, and surrounding regions of the western Rogue River and other watersheds, were destroyed in the wildfire. It burned most of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness (180,000 acres [728 km²]) . Taken using MODIS via the Aqua Satellite on August 12, 2002, with actively burning areas outlined in red.
context_page_description: The Chetco River is a 56-mile-long stream located in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Oregon. It drains approximately 352 square miles of Curry County. Flowing through a rugged and isolated coastal region, it descends rapidly from about 3,200 feet to sea level at the Pacific Ocean. Except for the lowermost 5 miles, the river is located entirely within the Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest. The river rises in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness, northwest of Chetco Peak at the junction of the Oregon Coast Range and the Klamath Mountains. It flows generally north, west, and then southwest, before emptying into the ocean between Brookings and Harbor, approximately 6 miles north of the California state line. The Chetco River's watershed remains largely undeveloped, protected by the Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest and the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. The upper 45 miles of the river have been designated Wild and Scenic since 1988.
  Native Americans have lived in the Chetco River's watershed for the last one to three thousand years.
context_section_description: Humans have lived in the Chetco River watershed since approximately 1,000 to 3,000 years ago. The first inhabitants were perhaps ancestors of the Chetco Indians and other Native American tribes, themselves descendants of the first humans who traveled across the Bering land bridge from Siberia over 10,000 years ago. At least nine separate villages were constructed along the Chetco River, including two on either side of its mouth. The Native Americans named the river "chit taa-ghii~-li~'".
  The first European American to visit the area may have been Sir Francis Drake on June 5, 1579, during his circumnavigation of the world. The Vancouver Expedition also explored the area in 1792. In June 1828 Jedediah Smith and his company of fur traders camped on the south bank of the river near a Native American village. Between 1853 and 1855, many Native Americans were killed and their villages destroyed in skirmishes occurring around the same time as the nearby Rogue River Wars. On July 9, 1856, the remaining Chetco were marched north to the Siletz Reservation.
  Oregon—and therefore the Chetco watershed—was jointly occupied by the United Kingdom and the United States after the Treaty of 1818 was signed. The Oregon Treaty was ratified in 1846, giving the United States ownership of Oregon. Soon after, the Oregon Territory was established, and Oregon became a U.S. state on February 14, 1859.
  The discovery of gold and other precious metals in the watershed brought settlers to the region in the 1840s and 1850s. Nickel, cobalt, and chromium were also mined. The town of Harbor was founded on the south bank of the Chetco River in 1891, and a ferry service across the river opened in 1904. It was shut down in 1915 when the Chetco Bridge opened. In 1912, the Brookings Lumber & Box Company moved north from the San Bernardino Mountains in southern California to the southern Oregon coast region. The company constructed a sawmill in 1914, and founded the town of Brookings. Brookings was not incorporated until 1951. The region remained relatively isolated due to its mountainous terrain until 1924, when Highway 101 was extended from Crescent City, California, to Brookings. In 1932, the Isaac Lee Patterson Bridge was completed over the Rogue River to the north, connecting the region to the rest of the Oregon coast. In 1917, a 1,200-foot-long (366 m) wharf was built at the mouth of the river. Jetties were constructed on either side of its mouth by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in 1957.
  The Siskiyou National Forest was created on October 5, 1906, protecting the entire upper portion of the Chetco watershed. The nearby Rogue River National Forest was combined with it in 2004, creating the nearly 1,800,000-acre (728,000 ha) Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest. In 1964, the United States Congress set aside over 80,000 acres (32,000 ha) of the eastern Chetco River watershed and surrounding regions to create the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. The wilderness was expanded several times in the 1970s, and now encompasses over 180,000 acres (72,800 ha).
  On October 28, 1988, a 44.5-mile (71.6 km) stretch of the Chetco River was designated a National Wild and Scenic River, from its headwaters to the boundary of the Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest. In a court case in 1994, the Chetco was determined to be navigable. In 2002, over 500,000 acres (202,000 ha) of the eastern portion of the watershed and surrounding regions were destroyed in the Biscuit Fire. Originally five separate fires, it was caused by several lightning strikes between July 12 and 15. By August 17, all five had burned together, creating one massive fire. It burned for over five months and was not fully extinguished until December 31.
  In 2002, 45 acres (18 ha) of land on the Little Chetco River were sold to Washington real estate developer David Rutan, only several months after the Biscuit Fire tore through the region. He opened a gold mining camp on the site in 2007, flying in customers by helicopter. Curry County officials soon stated that the camp violated zoning and sanitation laws, but 
caption: The smoke plume produced by the Biscuit Fire in 2002
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